12 Tips to deepen self-discovery

No matter who you work with as a guide, mentor or coach, no matter which courses you take or books you read that impact self-awareness, ultimately you are on a journey of self-discovery and progress at your own pace. Ponder these ten tips to deepen self-discovery with little or no money:

1) Look beyond traditional education.  Whatever it is you think you wish to learn or do, be aware many ways exist to obtain some insight for free.  Explore newsgroups, meet-ups, instructional Youtube videos.  Interview people, attend public lectures by those who have done it. The avenues are endless.

2) Nurture a creative art.  This is a way to unleash what cannot be said in words.  This is not about expressing it to an audience or gaining approval.  Its about translating inner knowing, revealing things and growing to trust yourself. Pottery, weaving, painting, design, dancing, knitting, or any combo of creative activities.  Whatever gets the juices flowing. Do it. 

3) Go on a group excursion in nature.  This could be anything from a bus trip and picnic lunch in a local park to a hike, extended canoe trip, mountain climbing or more rigorous trekking. Join a regular birdwatching group or walking group. Stillness speaks.  Interaction with new people can be suprising.

4) Research the mystical. This could include things like reading, watching films, going to an ashram, exploring meaning in night dreams, or taking up a spiritual internship with a mystic or shaman. Whatever it entails, ponder what enlightenment is and what it is to live life more fully.

5) Travel.  Put yourself in situations where you need to act on your feet. You could volunteer for an organisation, find a job abroad, be a live-in nanny, hitchhike or take your motorbike through new territory.  Whatever you choose, experiencing a different culture, learning a language, or fending for yourself in a foreign place allows you to see life from new vantage points.

6) Change your job or career.  Step outside the familliar.  Check out want-ads.  Try out for community theatre. Identify transferrable skills, new priorities or an inner longing to do whatever you have been postponing.  Now is the moment.

7) Face a fear. Whether its public speaking, sky diving, being more assertive or expressing yourself with more honesty to people in your life, take steps to show yourself that fear is an illusion that begins and ends in the mind.

8) Be entrepreneurial. You could start your own business, offer to be an apprentice or intern to test the waters or simply be more pro-active in different ways in your life.  Consider Jon Bon Jovi who started a restaurant where you give back in time or effort to the place rather than pay for the meal.  Imagine the possibilities.  A limit only exists when you believe in it.

9) Take a break. Take a year off from what you regularly do or had planned to do. This could be a gap year from school, a sabbatical from paid work, time to yourself away from relationships, a multi-month hiking trip, or maybe you join a crew on a ship sailing to a foreign desination. See what unfolds as you trust the universe.  Realize everything comes together.

10) Write.  Be it a diary, journal, blog, newspaper editorials, an email newsletter, contribute posts to a Facebook or other community group.  Discover what the power of words reveals.

11) Meditate.  Explore different meditation practices and listen to the wisdom of silence more often.  This is the way to rediscover what true listening is.  Its a practice humans tend to be conditioned away from.

12) Be an 'initiate'. This hard-to-define term implies a person who, through intense inner work, achieves enlightenment, illumination, and selflessness to work wholly out of the spiritual world for the sake of the world and humanity.

Be intensely aware

Be like a river.  It asks for nothing.  It has no direction or destination. Attention on particular directions introduces limitation.  Simply intuit what to do and which way to go. Cooperate with the inevitable, with the flow of life itself.  Be open.  Feel ways to navigate beyond what mind thinks. You start to see what you are ready to see. The flow sheds light, brings clarity, in ways that cannot be imagined.  When you are not focused on division, you surrender.

The mind is taught to focus and fixate on objects, to judge and develop dependence.  It contracts around what it can pin down.  It desires to control it.   Let go of noise.  Appreciate being unsure of what is unfolding in energy, light and unseen information.  Ease into a state of meditation on true awareness.  Introduce a question into the silent mind. BE that.

Come to your senses

Falling asleep is easy.  Notice how many people are sleepwalking through life. Have you ever had the feeling that anyone is falling awake? Are you connected with yourself, your passion, your destiny? Who is asking this question? Who is answering it?

Many people have the impression their life is splitting apart.  Notice your own inner conflict? You may think you want one thing while you are doing another. If you work in one place, you may wish to work somewhere else or shift focus to start a business. If you are involved in one relationship, you may wish to be involved in another.

If you feel restless, think you want to go "there" while part of you is here, this is an invitation to recognize the nature of overthinking. If you have a body, a mind and especially if you have a cell phone to interrupt you, why not come to your senses?

Notice five familiar senses are sending you messages. The non-conceptual sixth sense is also active. Which ones do you hear and overlook? Senses reveal everything.  The mind judges or shifts focus from what no longer matters. Notice the focus of your attention.  How do you feel about it? What does this reveal about wakefulness? and tainted views?

Notice the diversions in your life of wants, fear, doubt and pain. Notice when you feel suppressed, repressed, or like you are running from something. How many times during the day do you interrupt yourself in thought and speech? Forget what matters?

Everything invites you to ponder what it means to be here in this moment.  Listen with your bones, your organs, your flesh and your whole being. Reflect on your life with an open heart and pure compassion. Notice what you see deep within. The distinct possibility exists you are re-introducing yourself to who you truly are. When not grounded by thoughts, time and space, then what happens to 'you?' Next time you are in the shower, notice who or what is in there with you. Notice the mind wanders away from the refreshing water and lather. Next time you are in public transit, notice the mind churning. Areyou asleep while awake? What sort of trail are 'you' leaving?

Do this simple exercise: be aware of the breath.  This is mindfulness or non-judgmental awareness.  It invites us to be aware of what is fundamental in life rather than on what the mind thinks is urgent.  Notice thoughts that arise as the mind prompts you run on an endless treadmill.  Notice the mind distracts you from the breath and just living.

Ever had the experience that you can see without seeing? Its like something is in front of you but you only notice it when you are ready. Something knows where you came from before you were born and observes everything all the time. We also only see and hear what we are willing to accept. Meditation allows mindfulness to arise. It enables you to cultivate intimacy with what is ordinary. Stop taking what comes naturally for granted.

How often are you true to yourself? The problem is not with doing anything in particular, its with the personal pronouns you use to identify with something you think has virtue. It is not what we do that matters but being aware of it and allowing ourselves to feel deeply. Allow yourself to be at home in all of the senses. Bring the mind home to awareness and refine your capacity to see things as they are. The challenge is to atop doing all that gets in the way. This is advanced training in the art of living.

"Today like everyday we awaken empty and scared." - Rumi

5 Tips to eliminate stress forever

At different stages, you may think you feel stressed and share stories about it. Listen to words and tenses you use to describe observations.   You may fear history will repeat or worry about what has not yet happened.  How do you keep your head above water?

Perhaps you also allow the mind to linger on missed opportunities because you felt something was too risky or you feared what would happen and got stressed.  Be attentive to how often you write and speak in the present tense.  Rest assured, life  exists beyond stress, and it is accessible to all.  Ponder these 5 tips to eiminate stress forever;

1) Let go of the past.  You cannot change the past so why spend your time thinking about it and talking about it? Watch what happens when people around you do this.  The pulse races, adrenalin kicks in and an emotional roller coaster can take over.  Know that a silent observer beyond brain and mental noise can shift your focus of attention. 

2) Stop worrying about the future.  Consider what happens as you allow thoughts to dwell on the future.  Fear encroaches.  Stay in the present moment and do what is necessary to prepare your mind for any challenges you may face around the corner.

3) Be a rubbish bin with a hole in the bottom.  Notice people dump their stories of frustration, imbalance, anger and pressure on you.  You can dwell onthem or allow them to pass through you.  Similarly, you can dwell on your thoughts and perceptions or focus attention beyond them.  Thinking about things reveals itself as the hard part. 

4) Explore meditation.  Allowing the mind to recell the feeling of emptying helps you trust that letting go of thoughts.  Notice the longer you hold onto a full glass of water (or something else), the heavier it gets.  Similarly, the longer you cling to memories of experiences and discuss them, the more they weigh you down.

5) Focus on the present moment.  Listen to the signs of the body.  Notice that you only get sick if you grow desensitized about what the body is telling you.  Notice the basic energy level of the brain and other body parts. Notice how often you ignore your body.  Notice how when you are kind and rest appropriately, you can perform to a very high standard.  Without rest, you are inefficient.

 “Be gentle first with yourself if you wish to be gentle with others.” -Lama Yeshe

Drop the self-deception

Much of the process of mindfulness is about touching the immediacy of the present moment, the quality of experience as it is. Notice how you can be attentive to whatever arises, to contact and feel infinite forms directly.  Open to notice who you are and what you do. What happens as you stay with it, trust more fully?

Many people are conditioned to be distracted from the present.  Meditation is a way to shift focus back to what is unfolding now.  It helps you realize why you may numb out or turn away from discomfort.

Remind self that if you do not get-to-know fear, then you do not understand fearlessness. You cannot drop conditioning without getting-to-know fear, surrendering and letting go of old ways of thinking and behaving.  You do not evolve alone. Your pain is not a dream.  It connects you with everything. Suffering dissipates as you choose not to focus on the ego self.  How you use beliefs invites you to see alternatives.

As you wish for others to be happy, as you wish for unconditional friendliness toward self, mind and emotions, then you also radiate acceptance out toward others. As you self-reflect, choose to see through your thoughts and feelings, you develop compassion. What unfolds no longer scares you.  Judgment fades.  You develop trust and strength. Insight into all feelings mirrors what other people feel and deeply connects you.  Let things evolve at their own speed. Drop ideals and concepts. There is nothing to measure up to.